Florida’s third largest nursing program is less than a decade old yet consistently boasts some of the state’s best passage rates on the NCLEX exam required for licensed nurses. And the dean at St. Thomas University’s College of Nursing wants to grow another 72% in the next four years.
The fall class has 1,740 students, says Dean Nashat Abualhaija, up from 900 when he took the job about 18 months ago. His goal is 3,000 nursing students by 2030. That would be nearly 40% of the enrollment at St. Thomas, which is affiliated with the Archdiocese of Miami.
Enrollment soared when Miami Gardens-based St. Thomas made nursing, which started in the College of Health Sciences, into a freestanding college last year. Students receive individual advising from the day they enroll through graduation and beyond. It also works to provide scholarships and financial aid for students, who overwhelmingly come from South Florida.
St. Thomas graduates have a 100% placement rate, Abualhaija says.
The university is trying to help close the nursing deficit Florida faces, projected to be just under 60,000 nurses in a decade. It’s even starting an accelerated program that would allow people with their bachelor’s degrees to earn a Doctorate of Nursing Practice in as little as 32 months.
“We are in desperate need of nursing faculty. This is STU’s answer” to that shortage, Abualhaija says.
The school has managed rapid growth by maintaining close relationships between students and faculty, says 2020 graduate Anila Kuttula. She’s a walking advertisement for the school’s success, having earned the highest NCLEX score in the state when she graduated and twice being honored with the Daisy Award, given to nurses who exhibit excellence and compassion in clinical care.
She has worked at the Delray Medical Center, a Level 1 Trauma Center, since graduating, now serving as a registered nurse in intensive care and an ER nurse practitioner. Kuttula earned a master’s degree and recently completed her third degree, taking classes to be a family nurse practitioner online while working full-time.
Working in a hospital is difficult, she says, dealing with people in some of their worst times. But she believes her education and training at a faith-based institution prepared her well.